Page 67 of Solid Ground

“You are being better. It’s still so hard to reconcile how we met and how close we are now.”

“Some things are meant to be.” He pushes himself up and pecks me on the lips. “I’ll call Joel and get him to check out some flights. Got your passport?”

“It’s in my handbag.”

“I’ll grab it and make a call. One trip to New Zealand, coming right up.”

He straightens himself up and I grasp his arm. “Thank you.”

“Anything for you, Zoe. You should know that by now.”

As he walks away, tears well in my eyes again. I’m not sure how he puts up with me being so emotional at times, but he’s always level-headed. It’s scary how in sync we are.

When he comes back into the room a few minutes later,he’s frowning a little, but as he sits beside me and wraps his arm around my shoulders, I know everything’s okay.

“We’re pushing it. We need to get a letter from the doctor to say you can travel, and if we’re coming back here to have the baby we can’t stay too long—two weeks at the most. Unless you want to have the baby there, in which case we’ll need to find a midwife, and?—”

“You got all that in a short conversation?”

“Joel’s a walking encyclopaedia. If you call your doctor and get a letter emailed through, he can get us booked on the first flight out.”

I just stare at him. It was only months ago that I was organised. Now I feel like I’m falling apart, and he’s the one holding me together.

I call the doctor’s office. We were only there a couple of days ago, so within a few hours, I have a letter saying I can fly and Joel has the tickets booked—with return tickets two weeks later.

It’s not quite tomorrow, but in two days I’ll be on a plane and on the way to see my parents.

My heart aches. I’ve missed them while I’ve been away, and I’m not sure how well my dad and Declan will get on given how close I am to my dad and Declan’s wild ways, but I’m glad we’re going.

TWENTY

DECLAN

A tripto New Zealand has always been on my bucket list.

But I just never got any offers to work down here.

Now I’m glad I’ll see it for the first time with Zoe.

I moved heaven and earth to get us a flight out as soon as possible. She’s got six weeks to go until her due date—too much later and we would never have been able to get on a plane.

We landed in Auckland a couple of hours ago, and now she’s driving our rental car south to meet her parents. The scenery changes so quickly from the tall buildings of the city to the more famous rural landscape.

We could have flown to Taupo, but she wanted to drive, and we ended up flipping a coin over who would get behind the wheel. She wanted me to be free to enjoy the scenery, and although I would rather my heavily pregnant girl relax a bit more, I have to admit that it’s wonderful to sit back as we pass those rolling hills.

“What the hell is this?” I point at the building made of corrugated iron in the shape of a dog. Next to it is a similar building, except it’s a distinctive sheep shape.

We’ve been driving for two hours. I didn’t think I’d end up hallucinating.

Zoe laughs. “That’s the Tirau Visitor Centre.”

I shoot her the side-eye. “Is it like this everywhere?”

“Well, there is a giant carrot in Ohakune, and then there’s a big bottle of Lemon and Paeroa in Paeroa.”

“What’s a Paeroa?” Now I’m really confused.

“It’s a drink named after the place. That’s where it was originally made and the water in it came from there.”

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